Broadband News

Freeserve vs Oftel Dispute ruling expected next week

The Register is reporting that the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) is
due to be "handed-down" on April 16th at 10:30am. The dispute revolves around Oftels earlier rejection that Freeserve alleged that BT Openworld had prior knowledge of the price cuts in early 2002
and therefore was able to get ahead of the game and gain a competitive edge, additionally Freeserve claimed that cross-subsidies were going on.

The tribunal publishes transcripts from the previous hearings, these can be read here. A word of warning there is a lot to read, but it proves quite interesting to read and is very enlightening on how Freeserve views the Broadband market place. It would appear
Freeserve is saying with the margins it had in 2002 on the Home ADSL product it was unable to make a profit. One thing to note is that Freeserve only offer the Home 500 product, and a lot of
other ISPs including BT Openworld offer premium services. In all probability BT Openworld and other ISPs are looking towards making their money on options like static IP addresses and the
previously much larger margins on the Office range of products.